The office meant to investigate abuse in immigrant detention is gone
The next time someone dies in immigration enforcement custody, there’ll be one less oversight office to look into it.
The Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, has officially shut down the Office of the Immigration Detention Ombudsmen, or OIDO.
“DHS did not shutdown the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman — Congress did,” an agency spokesperson told HuffPost in an email. “The House passed the DHS appropriations bill without objection, and it was signed into law last week.”
The office had essentially served as one of the main watchdogs for anyone in immigrant detention.
“It’s illegal, and it’s a bad idea,” Scott Shuchart, former head of the Office of Regulatory Affairs and Policy for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told Straight Arrow.
Oversight shutdown
The OIDO portion of the DHS website is now officially archived, and an internal announcement went out, according to HuffPost. The OIDO is now in the process of removing all public signage and ending inspections.
Those inspections include reports of abuse, excessive force, misconduct or any violation of a person’s rights while in migrant detention. The office’s shuttering also means people can’t make any new complaints against regulators.
This follows the end of a long DHS shutdown, where President Donald Trump signed a funding bill that didn’t include money for agencies like OIDO.
“They are making the claim that this is needless government spending,” César García Hernández, law professor at Ohio State University, told Straight Arrow.
However, OIDO was originally established by Congress through the Consolidated Appropriations Act, with the office expected to report to Congress.
That’s where the legal questions come in.
Because it was created by the legislative branch, the executive branch can’t just wipe it out. A formal abolishment of the office should require congressional approval.
“It’s against the law,” Shuchart emphasized.
And while the new funding didn’t specifically provide for this office, Trump’s One Big Beautiful bill provided a significant increase in funding for DHS and for immigration enforcement.
“As I understand it, they can pay for it,” Shuchart said.
Firing employees
This didn’t start with defunding the department.
It started on March 21, 2025, when the Trump administration gutted OIDO along with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Ombudsman and the Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Office.
Of the 118 OIDO employees, only five remained after that cut. It appears those people are now out of a job as well.
“This is a familiar pattern from the Department of Homeland Security under President Trump to shed as much oversight as possible,” Hernández said.
Timing
The latest moves come as migrant deaths in custody skyrocket.
As of March, 46 migrants have died in immigration enforcement’s hands since the Trump administration took over last year.
Thirty-two of those died in 2025, the agency’s deadliest year in more than two decades.
And as the budget for immigration detention has gone up, detention levels have roughly doubled since the highest average of former President Joe Biden’s tenure.
“Those two data points suggest a crying need for oversight,” Hernández said.
Shuchart agreed.
“The idea that you would double the detention system, kill a whole bunch more people, all while trying to get rid of any form of independent oversight, it really breaks the bargain that was made when DHS was created,” he said.
DHS was created in 2002 following the 9/11 attacks despite pushback from former President George W. Bush, who felt shuffling government agencies would not be helpful to counterterrorism efforts.
Once it did become reality, several safeguards were put in place to avoid racial profiling, illegal detentions and many more issues.
Those safeguards were those agencies that the Trump administration has essentially ended.
“We’re just left with the dysfunctional parts of DHS and without the oversight,” Shuchart said.
While those agencies are all but gone, complaints against immigration enforcement are well-documented over the last few years, including Alligator Alcatraz, citizen deaths in Minnesota and more.
What’s next?
There are already several lawsuits over the Trump administration’s actions towards these agencies.
That includes one brought by the Kennedy Human Rights Center against DHS. The next hearing in that case is scheduled for next month.
“I’m involved in one over the illegal firings of the people who worked in those offices,” Shuchart said.
Even if the courts do rule in favor of the plaintiffs, what can the judicial branch really do here?
Alexander Hamilton once wrote that the court system has “neither FORCE nor WILL, but merely judgment.”
The Trump administration has a detailed history of ignoring court orders.
In the American system of checks and balances, where one branch is supposed to check another, if the judicial system can’t, maybe the legislative can.
And as Shuchart said, “Congress could start doing its job literally anytime.”
In the meantime, this likely does not bode well for all the extra people in immigration custody.
Hernández believes we could potentially see more pushback from the advocacy community.
“If the goal is to avoid second-guessing by members of the public, then certainly this is a step in that direction,” he said.
Round out your reading
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- Data centers are a thorny issue for Democrats. Maine shows us why.
- We’re building a new Straight Arrow. Help us shape our future by taking our survey.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
